Excavating apparatus.



No. 792,699. PATENTED JUNE 20, 1905. W. H. PULGHER.

EXGAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16,1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

WITNESSES; INVENIUR,

a. .5 07-6 0,. 5 ga m fixa/LM wimzkz 6% PATENTED JUNE 20, 1905.

W. H. FULGHER. EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16,1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

A 4/04. L-L

W/T/VESSES,

Cfias 5 Chap/)7, 5% %7M PATENTED JUNE 20, 1905.

W. H. FULOHBR.

BXGAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16,1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W/TNESSES,

PATENTED JUNE 20, 1905'.

W. H, PULCHER. EXGAVATING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16,1904.

F/G4 SWTS-SHEET 4.

FIG. 6.

NITED STATES Patented June 20, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM H. FULCHER, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO HERMAN MURPHY, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALTFORNIA.

EXCAVATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 792,699, dated June 20, 1905.

Application filed May 16, 1904. Serial No. 208,155.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. FULcHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Excavating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus for excavating earth and like material.

It consists of a suitable supporting-frame work, a series of plows or scrapers and corresponding containing-buckets, with means whereby said scrapers and buckets are caused to travel so that the plows or scrapers first loosen the material and it is taken up thereafter into the buckets, thence carried to any point where it is desired to discharge the material, a means whereby the buckets may be opened so as to successively discharge part of each bucket, and thus distribute the material over a greater receiving-surface, such as a carrying belt or draper.

My invention also comprises mechanism whereby the excavating apparatus may be raised or lowered with. reference to the main carrying-frame, mechanism for steering the apparatus, so that it can be turned from side to side or turned around in a comparatively short space, and clutch devices for rapidly and certainly connecting and disconnecting the various driving parts.

My invention also comprises details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in whicl Figure 1 is a side elevation of machine. Fig. 2 is a front of same, showing buckets and plows. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same. Fig. 4 is a section through clutch. Fig. 5 is a plan of same. Fig. 6 is a plan of steeringwheels. Fig. 7 is a section of same. Fig. 8 is a view, partly in section, of draper-roller. Fig. 9 is a view, partly in section, of cablepulley and guide-track. Fig. 10 is a side elevation of same.

The apparatus which is the object of my present invention is designed for making excavations of any sort, especially for digging ditches or canals, removing the earth, and delivering it either to form embankments or to discharge it at a distance from the digging apparatus. It is also susceptible of use in removing earth which is piled above the surface, leveling it or changing its grade, and for various similar operations.

As at present shown, A represents a framework platform or deck upon which the operating machinery is mounted, and this device may be carried upon wheels, as at 2, which enables it to travel along the line of excavation or to be turned or moved in any desired direction. The wheel-frame supports table A. The wheels Q'are made of any suitable size and with suflicient breadth of tread to prevent their unduly sinking into the surface over which the machine is to be operated.

These wheels have their journal-boxes 3 carried in forks 4:, which are here shown as bent at right angles, the central portion extending across above the wheels and the two legs carrying the journal-boxes of the wheels. The

central portion of each fork is pivoted or turnable upon a king-bolt, as at 5, connecting with an arch, as at 6, and this arch extends to the frame-timbers 7 upon each side.

The boxes 3 are fixed to angle-irons 9, which are curved, as shown, and the frame-timbers 7 are furrowed out to lit the curvature, so that the parts are thus firmly locked together. Cables 9 pass around each of these curved angle-irons upon opposite sides of the wheels, and by pulling upon one side or the other of the cable it will be seen that the Wheels may be turned about their own vertical centers corresponding with the king-bolts which unite the wheel-forks with the arches, as previously described. In order to operate these cables, I have shown the shaft 11 having upon it a spur-gear 12, through which power is transmitted to drive the miter-gears 13, and through these gears the shafts 14. and 15 receive their motion. Upon these shafts are mounted winding-drums, as at 16, and the cables 9 pass around these drums, so that by the operation of the bevel-gears and the turning of the shafts in opposite directions one drum will take up the cable, while the other allows it to uncoil simultaneously, thus maintaining the tension of the cable and at the same time turning the wheels in such a manner that the apparatus can be easily moved from one point to any desired point, turned around, or shifted from side to side without the necessity of taking long turns on account of its unwieldy size.

The frame or table A is carried upon or movable with the wheel-frame above described, and at one end of this table A are vertical angular guides forming part of a suitably-braced frame, as at 23. Within these guides the vertical posts or spuds 24 of the excavator carrying-frame are slidable and have fixed to them racks 25. These racks are engaged by pinions 26, fixed upon shafts 27. Worm-gears 28 upon a horizontal shaft 29 serve to rotate the shafts 27 in either direction to depress or raise the spud-timbers 24, and with them the digging-plows 30 and excavating-buckets 31. The lower ends of the spud-timbers are provided with wedge-shaped shoes 34, which may be slightly larger than the timbers, so as to make an easy entrance for the latter.

The movable frame which carries the buckets being depressed to any desired point, the excavators and carrying-buckets are set in motion, and the material raised by the buckets may be discharged upon a transversely-moving belt or carrier or into chutes or in other desired manner.

The buckets follow the scrapers, and both are secured to flexible racks, which are in turn secured to endless wire ropes or cables 32. The ropes or cables pass over suitably-shaped pulleys 33, journaled near the top and bottom of the vertically-movable frame, and these pulleys are at substantially the corners of a vertical rectangle.

The scrapers or plows are designed to loosen the earth, if hard, or to throw it in such a manner that it will be taken up by the following buckets, which are thus filled while passing along the bottom of the excavation or over the surface from which the material is to be taken.

The flexible racks which carry the buckets are constructed, as here shown, in the form of bars or links, having at the end of each bar or link a rack-tooth, as at 35, and these rackteeth are adapted to fit into corresponding grooves or notches 36, made in the periphery of wheels or drums 33 and which have a pitch corresponding with that of the teeth. In this manner these endless flexible racks will be directed in their movements so that as they pass along the bottom the buckets will be loaded. Thence they turn around the lower drums or pulleys, where the change of direction takes place, and move upward to the point where the material is to be discharged, thence across between the upper pulleys with another change of direction, and thence down between the upper and lower pulleys ordrums upon the opposite side until they reach the botliaom and are brought into position to again The rear of each plow-frame 37 and bucket is connected with the corresponding lug or clamp 35 by a bar 38, fixed at one end to the plow or bucket and at the inner end hinged to the lug. The front ends of the plows and buckets are connected by intermediate links 39, hinged at both ends and preferably longer than the connections 38, so that the front ends of the buckets will be tilted away from the rope. This assists materially in loading, and these links 39 formafiexible connection which lengthens to allow the plows and buckets to pass around the pulleys at the angles where change of direction takes place.

When the buckets reach the point of discharge, a latch 40 upon the bucket contacts with a shoulder or catch 41, which acts during the travel of the bucket past this catch to disengage the locking device, and thus allow the bottom of the bucket to swing about its hinges and discharge. The bottom is here shown as hinged at the front, and when first released the rear end drops upon a support 42, which prevents its being fully opened, but allows a part of the contents of the bucket to fall upon a traveling belt or a receptacle. At the termination of this support the bottom drops still farther and fully opens to discharge the remainder of the contents, which by this continuous operation are distributed along the belt instead of being discharged in a mass at one spot. 43 is a fixed projection or device over which the bottoms of the buckets pass and by which they are closed and latched after being discharged. By this arrangement I am enabled to distribute the load from the bucket over a surface which may be twice or more the length of the bucket, and when the material is to be received upon a carrying belt or draper this distribution prevents too great a concentration of load at any one point.

The buckets have supportingwheels 44, which travel upon horizontal tracks 45 across a portion of the upper part of their travel. These tracks are interrupted at the point where the bucket-bottoms fall open and are resumed at the point where the bottoms are closed. The buckets are supported and prevented from sagging while crossing this open space by tracks 46, sufficiently separated and raised so that the hinged bucket-bottoms may drop between these supports, and the shoes or lugs 35, which are fixed to the ropes, will ride upon the tracks 46 at this part of their travel.

41 represents any suitable fixture to disengage the latches of the bucket-bottoms as they pass.

40 represents any suitable or desired form of spring-pressed or other latch by which the bucket-bottoms are retained in a closed position.

At the point where the buckets cross the lower part of their travel and are filled the wheels 44 pass between upper and lower horizontal tracks 45, and these tracks hold the buckets and plows to their work while loadlug.

In order to operate the mechanism, I have shown the main shaft 11, which may receive power from any convenient or desired source, provided with reverse friction-clutch mechanism, as shown at 48 and 49. The shaft 50 is driven from 11 by gears 12 12 and carries clutches 51, 52, and 53. These clutches are designed to transmit power from the main driving-shaft 11 to the different parts of the apparatus, as may be desired. Thus the posts or spuds 24,which are shed with wedge-shaped steel or otherwise formed to enter and hold into the ground, as at 34, support the vertically-movable frames or parts which carry the excavator and buckets previously described and the mechanism by which they are operated. If it is desired to depress these, the clutch 53 is engaged and one member of the clutch being connected with the shaft 50 and the other with the worm-gears 28 it -will be seen that when these are engaged the wormgears will gradually depress the vertical racks, the frame to which they are fixed, and the parts which are movable in unison therewith. By means of the reverse-clutch 49 the movement of the parts is reversed and the excavators are raised.

By the use of the worm-gearsI am enabled to provide a convenient powerful transmission device, and the parts will stand at any point where they may be left without other brakes or devices.

In order to drive the chain of plows and buckets, I have shown drums 55 and 56. The drum 55 is mounted upon the same shaft with the sprocket-wheel 57, and this sprocket-wheel is driven by a chain from the sprocket 58, mounted and turnable with one member of the clutch 52, so that when this clutch is engaged power will be transmitted through the sprockets 57 58 and the intermediate chain to rotate the drum 55. The rope or chain 60 passes around the drum 55, thence around the drum 56, making a number of turns around each drum. Thence the rope passes down around a pulley 61, thence around a pulley 62, the shaft of which is mounted in journals slidable in a horizontal guide 63 and having a tension device at 64. From the pulley 62 the rope 60 again returns around the drum 55, thus completing its path of travel, and as the pulleys 33 are mounted upon the same shafts with the drum 56 and the pulley 61 it will be seen that the movement transmitted by the rope 60, as just described, will be transmitted to drive the cables 34 and the plows and buckets carried thereby. The length of the rope or chain 60 is not materially altered by a rise or depression of the vertically-movable excavator-carrying frame to the required extent above and below a certain level; but the tension-pulley 62 serves to pick up any slack that may occur and to correspondingly allow for such movements as require a longer driving-rope.

The material discharged from the buckets may be first delivered upon an inclined chute, as at 65, and this will discharge the material upon a suitable traveling belt at 66, by which the material is conducted to any desired point of discharge. This belt is driven by a chain 67, passing around a sprocket-wheel at 68, mounted upon the same shaft with the drum 56, and another sprocket-wheel at 69, mounted upon a shaft 70, through which power is transmitted to drive the traveling carrier.

One member of the clutch 51 is connected with a sprocket-wheel, as at 71, and from this sprocket a chain 72 passes around a sprocket 73 upon the lower wheel-frame 7, and through this connection the steering and propelling mechanism of the car may be actuated, as previously described.

It will be seen that the excavating and hoisting apparatus, being located at one end of the supporting car and frame, may be advanced thereby, so as to either level off or cut away a surface which may be higher than the base upon which it is supported, or it may be advanced on a level with said base to cut away a surface, such as a hillside, in order to make a level path or roadway, which can be completed by successive advances of the machine transversely of the path, or it may be employed to excavate a ditch or channel at a lower elevation than the wheel-base, and that any combinations of these different operations may be effected by the use of this machine.

In order to equalize the side strain upon the cables and parts while the plows and scrapers are moving across the bottom, I have shown the plows, or part of them, so disposed that the moldboards throw the material in opposite directions, and this also serves to so distribute the material thus disturbed that the buckets will be fairly and evenly filled as they follow the plows.

lthough this apparatus has been described as being carried upon a support designed to move upon the earth, it will be understood that it might also be carried upon a boat in case it was to be used for dredging purposes.

The various clutches here described and shown are actuated by suitably-disposed levers, as at 75, arranged within convenient reach of an operator and connected with the actuating mechanisms by rods or links, as indicated at 76. It will also be understood that by this mechanism the digging apparatus may continue its work while the carrying-frame is being depressed, it not being necessary to stop during that operation.

The shaft 77, upon which the lower ropepulleys 33 are carried, has its ends entering the metal shoes 34, which are fixed to the bottom of the upright timbers 24:, and this shaft is secured at each end by pins or equivalent locking devices, as at 78, so that it forms a rigid brace across the space between each pair of the frame-posts 23. 45 represents yokes extending in the opposite direction between these posts and having upturned ends with holes to fit over the shafts 77. Thus these shafts in one direction and the connecting rods or bars 79 form a sufficiently rigid connection to prevent the separation of the timbers or distortion of the lower part of the frame by strains which may be brought upon it. The shaft 77 bears such relation with the shoes 34 that the buckets 31 pass below the lower ends of the shoes and are sufficiently shorter than the distance between these shoes so that the buckets will cut a channel between the shoes, and the latter being embedded in the earth or material at each side of the channel are braced to hold them in position.

The pulleys 33 turn loosely on the shaft 77,

e and in order to protect their bearing-surfaces the hubs so that dirt and dust are prevented from entering. Any suitable form of greasecup or other force-feed for lubricant may be employed at this point, and the tendency will be to force the grease outward through any joints that may appear and prevent the dirt from entering. The spools or carriers 83, upon which the discharge-belt at .66 travels, are formed with concave-convex ends or flanges, and these spools are turnable loosely upon the pins or shafts on which they are mounted. The concavities of the spool ends being presented outwardly will prevent dirt from falling into the wearing parts. The spools are retained in place by collars 84;, which fit closely against the inner concavities thereof, said collars being fixed upon the pins or shafts.

In order to move the apparatus forward, back, or sidewise, winding-drums or capstans are fixed upon shafts at the ends and sides of the frames 7, so that ropes may be wound upon these drums and the apparatus moved in any desired direction. The same result may also be produced by attaching the ropes to the frame and passing them outward around fixed pulleys, returning them to the motorshaft, about which they can be wound; but this forms no special part of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An excavator comprising a wheeled or table frame, a superposed frame or table mounted thereon, a pair of vertical spaced guides at each side one end portion of the superposed frame, vertical spuds mounted to slide in said guides, means for moving the spuds vertically,

. pulleys journaled near the top and bottom of the spuds, and an endless chain of excavators passing around the pulleys in adirection substantially at right angles to the lineof travel of the wheeled bearing-frame.

2. An excavating apparatus comprising a supporting frame or table, a vertically-disposed frame at one end of the table and includinga pair of spaced vertical guides at each side of the table and means connecting the guides at one side with those at the opposite side, a vertical frame slidably mounted in the guides, rollers mounted in the slidable frame upon axes which are parallel with the length of the su pporting-frame, a chain of excavating devices carried upon said drums, and mechanism by which said excavators are driven.

3. In an excavating apparatus, a main supporting frame or table, vertical guides at opposite sides of one end of said table, a vertical frame having posts fitting and movable in said guides, rack-bars fixed to the posts and pinions engaging said rack-bars and carried upon shafts extending transversely across the main frame, mechanism by which said pinions are actuated to raise or lower the vertical frame, drums or pulleys journaled upon the upper and lower portions at each side of the vertical frame, an endless chain of excavating devices carried by said pulleys, and means for driving said excavators.

4:. In an excavating apparatus, a main frame or table and wheeled supports therefor where by said table may be moved and adjusted, vertical guides carried upon one end of the table, a vertical frame having posts at its corners with metal shoes adapted to enter and lock the vertical posts, gearing actuated from the main frame by which said vertical frame is raised or depressed, pulleys journaled upon said vertical frame and forming a rectangle thereon, ropes passing around said pulleys, excavatingplows carried by said ropes and buckets carried by the ropes behind each of the plows.

5. In an excavating apparatus, a main frame with supporting-wheels, means for guiding and placing said frame, a vertical frame, mechanism by which said frame may be moved up or down with relation to the main frame, pulleys or drums mounted upon the upper and lower parts of said vertical frame forming a rectangle, ropes passing around said pulleys, clamps fixed to the ropes and plows and buckets carried by said clamps, each bucket following a plow and forming therewith an excavating element, and mechanism by which the ropes and excavators are driven.

6. In an excavating apparatus, amain table or frame with supporting-wheels and means for guiding and placing said frame, vertical guides carried at one end of the frame, avertical frame and mechanism by which it is raised or lowered in the guides, pulleys or drums journaled to said vertical frame to form a rectangle, said pulleys having peripheral notches, endless ropes passing around the pulleys, lugsor clamps fixed to the ropes having spurs corresponding with and fitting the notches of the pulleys, bars or racks connected with said lugs, and plows and buckets carried upon the outer ends of said racks and mechanism by which said chain of excavators is driven.

7. In an excavating apparatus, a main substantially horizontal frame or table with hearing and adjusting wheels, a vertically-movable frame carried upon the end of-said table and shoes at the bottoms of the posts of said frame whereby its lower end is fixed and steadied in the ground, pulleys journaled upon said frame having notches or depressions in the periphery, ropes passing around said pulleys, clamps or lugs fixed to the ropes having spurs corresponding with and fitting the notches in the pulleys, links having theirinner ends pivoted to the lugs and plows and buckets following each other and pivoted to the outer ends of the links.

8. In an excavator, a vertically-movable frame, pulleys journaled thereon having notches in the periphery, endless ropes passing about the pulleys, lugs or clamps fixed to the ropes with spurs to engage the notches in the pulleys, excavator plows and buckets, each carried by a set of four clamps upon the two parallel traveling ropes, single links pivoted to the clamps and to the rear ends of the excavators and buckets respectively and double-jointed links connecting the forward ends of the excavators and buckets with the corresponding links substantially as described.

9. In an excavating apparatus, a verticallymovable frame having pulleys with notched peripheries journaled thereon in pairs, endless ropes passing around said pulleys parallel with each other having clamps fixed thereto with spurs engaging the notches of the pulleys, excavators and buckets each carried by a set of four of said clamps, single links connecting the rear of each excavator and bucket with corresponding clamps, double-jointed links connecting the front ends of said excavators and buckets with corresponding clamps and diagonally-disposed brace-bars extending from the rear clamps to the front ends of the plow-carriers and of the buckets respectively.

10. In an excavator, endless ropes, pulleys over which they travel parallel to each other,

clamps fixed upon the ropes with spurs, corresponding teeth or notches in the pulleys with which said spurs engage, excavators and buckets carried by said ropes, and means forming a flexible rack for each excavator and bucket, said means comprising jointed connections between the rear of each excavator and bucket and corresponding clamps upon the ropes, interposed flexible links connecting another pair of lugs with the front of the excavators and buckets and diagonal braces extending from the rear clamps to the outer connection of the links with the fronts of the excavators or buckets.

11. In an excavating apparatus, a verticallymovable frame, pulleys journaled thereon to form a rectangle, said pulleys having notches in the periphery, endless ropes passing around said pulleys in pairs, clamps fixed to said ropes with lugs or spurs engaging the notches in the pulleys, excavators and buckets carried by said ropes, means forming flexible racks by which said buckets are connected with the ropes and adapted to pass around the angles formed by the pulleys, said means comprising links jointed at each end and connecting corresponding clamps with the forward ends of the excavators and buckets, single pivoted connections between the rear ends of the excavators and buckets and corresponding clamps and diagonally-disposed brace-bars extending from the front of the excavators and buckets respectively to the rear clamps of each.

12. In an excavating apparatus, a main table or frame with hearing and steering wheels, a vertically guided and movable frame carried upon one end of the main frame, metal wedgeshaped shoes fixed to the vertical posts and adapted to enter the ground, shafts fixed transversely between said shoes and corresponding shafts fixed in the upper ends of the vertical frame forming braces therefor, pulleys turnable upon said shafts and endless ropes passing around said pulleys, excavating devices carried by said ropes, means for protecting the pulleyjournals from dirt, said means comprising sockets upon the inner faces of the shoes, and chambered collars upon the shafts exterior to the pulley-hubs within which chambers and sockets the pulley-hubs are revoluble.

13. In an excavator, a main bearing-frame, a vertically guided and movable frame supported at one end of the main frame, pulleys journaled thereon inthe form of a rectangle, endless traveling ropes having excavators and buckets secured successively thereto, means for propelling said chain of excavators, flexible racks for connecting the excavators and buckets with the ropes whereby they pass around the short bends of the pulleys and travel in substantially straight lines between the pulleys, hinged bottoms to the buckets which are presented downwardly while traveling across the space between the upper pulleys, latches by which said bottoms are maintained in closed position, means by which said bottoms are unlatched and the load'discharged. I

14. In an excavator, a vertically-movable frame having pulleys journaled thereon, endless traveling ropes, excavators and traveling buckets attached to said ropes, doors upon the buckets and latches by which said doors are held closed, inclined lugs fixed to the frame between the upper pulleys adapted to disengage the latches and allow the doors to open, fixed supports upon which the doors rest in a partially-open position during a portion of the travel, said supports terminating to allow the doors to be fully opened and a device against which the doors contact and by which they are closed and the latches reengaged after the bucket has been discharged.

15. In an excavating apparatus, a verticallymovable frame having pulleys journaled thereon in parallel sets and forming substantially a rectangle, endless ropes passing around said pairs of pulleys parallel to each other, excavators and buckets carried by said ropes, said buckets having hinged bottoms and latches therefor, fixed mechanism by which the latches are disengaged and the bottoms first partially opened and finally fully opened whereby the contents are distributed over a certain travel of the buckets, inclined chutes upon which said distributed material is received, and an endless traveling belt upon which the chute discharges and distributes the material received from the buckets.

16. In an excavating apparatus, a vertically guided and movable frame, endless ropes and pulleys journaled at the angles of a rectangle about which said ropes pass, excavators and buckets connected with and carried by said ropes, hinged doors and means whereby said doors are opened to discharge the contents, Wheels or rollers carried by the excavators and buckets and tracks across the top upon which said rollers travel before the bucketdoors are opened, said tracks being interrupted at the point of opening of the doors and supplemental tracks covering said interrupted space and exterior thereto, said supplemental tracks supporting the connections between the buckets and the ropes while the buckets are unsupported by the main tracks.

17. In an excavator, a vertically guided and movable frame, pulleys journaled thereon, endless traveling ropes passing over said pulleys, clamps upon said ropes and means for connecting the buckets and excavators therewith, wheels carried by the buckets and sectional tracks across the top upon which said wheels are borne while the buckets remain closed, hinged doors with latches, means for disengaging said latches and allowing the doors to open as the buckets arrive at the ends of the tracks, other tracks in the line of travel of the ropes and the bucket-clamps thereon upon which said clamps travel over the interrupted space of the main tracks and While the bucket doors remain open, and means for closing said doors when the bucket-Wheels again reach the main track and are supported thereby.

18. In an excavator, a vertically guided and movable frame, pulleys journaled thereon to form a rectangle, endless ropes passing aroundsaid pulleys, excavators and buckets fixed to said ropes and. wheels carried by said excavators and buckets, parallel tracks extending between the lower pulleys between which tracks within which the wheel-axles are journaled,

exterior yokes, king-bolts by which the forks are vertically pivoted in said yokes, curved angle-iron frames with which the forks are connected,said frames being turnable in guidechannels in the main timbers, ropes passing around said frames and winding-drums over which the ropes pass whereby the frames and the wheels are turned to guide the apparatus.

20. In an excavator, a frame having turnable bearing and guiding wheels, cables connecting with said wheeled frames windingdrums by which said cables are moved to turn the wheels a motor carried upon the main frame, reversible clutches, mechanism comprising chain and chain-pulleys whereby mo-i tion is transmitted to the wheel steering apparatus.

21. In an excavator, a frame having bearing and guiding wheels, a main frame superposed thereon, a vertically-guided movable frame, mechanism by which said frame is raised and depressed with relation to the main frame, an endless chain of excavators and buckets carried upon said vertical frame, mechanism by which said chain of buckets is driven, said mechanism comprising winding-drums carried respectively upon the main frame and upon the upper part of the vertical frame, a pulley upon the lower part of the vertical frame, a rope coiled upon the drums and also passing around the pulley and a transversely-adjustable pulley on the main frame around which the rope also passes whereby differences in the length of the rope caused by the vertical movements of the frame are compensated.

22. In an excavating apparatus, a main frame, a supplemental frame with guiding and bearing wheels upon which the apparatus is carriedand directed, a vertically guided and movable frame at one end of the main frame, an endless traveling chain of excavators and buckets, pulleys upon the vertical frame about which said chain passes and by which the excavators and buckets are directed across the bottom in contact with the material to fill the buckets, thence vertically upward, thence transversely across the top and means for emptying the buckets thence vertically down the opposite side to the point to again fill, drums and pulleys with an endless rope and a compensating mechanism whereby the chain of excavators and buckets is driven and mechanism carried upon the main frame whereby the driving of the buckets and the raising and lowering of the frame are efiected.

IIO

23. In an excavating apparatus, a main frame or table and wheeled support, a vertically guided and movable bucket-carrying frame located at the end of the main frame, a motor, reversing-clutches through which motion is transmitted from the motor, a countershaft, clutches carried thereby, mechanism controlled by one of said clutches whereby the vertical frame may be raised or depressed, mechanism controlled by another of said clutches whereby the chain of buckets may be propelled or arrested, mechanism controlled by a third of said clutches whereby motion is transmitted to turn the steering-wheels and controlling-levers with rods connecting them 5 WILLIAM H. FULCHER.

Witnesses:

S. H. NOURSE, JEssIE O. BRODIE. 

